Against the Reintroduction of Race Laws in Europe

Cross posted from MicroMega:

To European democratic public opinion and the press that keeps it informed

Events in Italy have always – for better or worse – had an extraordinary influence on the whole of European society, from the Italian Renaissance to Fascism.

But, all too often, Europe has not become aware of these events in time.

There is currently a great deal of attention in major European newspapers on some aspects of the crisis that has engulfed our country. But we believe that it is our duty – the duty of all those living in Italy – to inform European public opinion on other alarming aspects that have not elicited such interest, such as the draft legislation proposed by the Italian Government, called the “Security Decree”. If it is not prevented, this legislation runs the risk of disfiguring the image of Europe and dealing a severe setback to human rights worldwide.

The Berlusconi Government, using security as a pretext, has imposed on our Parliament – over which it has total control – the adoption of laws discriminating against immigrants, laws the likes of which we had not seen in this country since the passing of the Fascist Race Laws.

The victim of the discrimination has changed: it is no longer the Jews but the undocumented migrant population, hundreds of thousands of people. But the discriminating measures have not changed: if passed, these new laws may, for example, forbid mixed marriages.

Such a prohibition would prevent a person from exercising a fundamental right, the right to marry without constraints of an ethnic or religious nature. The victims of discrimination would be denied this right simply on the basis of their nationality. Not to mention the fact that Italians would equally be denied their right to marry the person of their choice.

Another norm contained in the decree – even more abusive of human rights and dignity – is the prohibition for foreign women lacking permits (an administrative offence) to recognize their children at birth. Thus, the children born to “undocumented” foreign women, by virtue of a political decision by a temporary majority, shall be for their entire lives the children of unknown parents, they may be removed from their own mothers at birth and placed under the care of the State.

Not even Fascism had gone that far! The Race Laws introduced by the Regime in 1938 did not subtract children from their Jewish mothers, nor did they induce the mothers to abort rather than have their children confiscated by the State.

We would not be addressing European public opinion if the gravity of these measures were not such that it transcends national boundaries, calling for a reaction by all those who believe in our shared humanity. Europe cannot accept that one of its founding members regresses to primitive levels of social organization, contradicting international law and the very principles upon which the European political union is based.
It is in the interest of all of us that this not happen. It would dishonour us all.

European democratic public opinion must become aware of the disease ravaging Italy and act swiftly so that it does not spread further.

We are confident that each one of you will choose an effective way to demonstrate your opposition.

Roma, June, the 29th 2009

Andrea Camilleri, Antonio Tabucchi, Dacia Maraini, Dario Fo, Franca Rame, Moni Ovadia, Maurizio Scaparro, Gianni Amelio

Canada Day 2009

I love this country. I really love living in Canada. I also really love living in Ottawa, the capital, which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Today on July 1st, we celebrate Canada Day, the 142nd year of confederation. Canadian history and society is by no means perfect. It has had it’s own troubled past and it’s share of controversy, but today we enjoy relative peace, prosperity and security. We have universal health care, affordable post secondary education for everyone, access to social services when needed and low crime rates… even in our urban centers when compared to other cities anywhere in the world. We have two official languages including a vibrant french culture in Quebec, we recognize gay marriages, we’re supportive of immigration, encourage multi-culturalism and our political parties are not as polarizing as those to the south of our border.    

Ottawa is a magnificent city. It’s museums and galleries are second to none. We have a variety of festivals year round, celebrating English, French and other various cultures. Since we had our “little man”, I have come to appreciate the numerous and various city services that cater to children and youth… and most are for free!! 

I love biking along the numerous paths and along the river in summer. Although the winters are fierce with cold temparatures (Ottawa is the coldest capital in the world) and lots of snow, I enjoy the Winterlude Festival in February with the ice sculptures, skating on the frozen Rideau canal, sipping hot chocolate and eating beaver tails with maple syrup. Visiting Gatineau Park in the fall and seeing the numerous colours of the changing leaves is breath-taking. It is also 2 hours from Montreal and 4 hours from Toronto.

I have been blessed to visit various countries in different parts of the world and I would not want to live anywhere else. Granted, my heart will always belong to Jamaica, the country of my parents birth and where I spent my formative years. (A number of years ago I had seriously considered moving back there… however I’m glad I didn’t!) The Queen and I are planning to retire in the Caribbean, probably on one of the British Virgin Islands, as long as there is internet access and satellite t.v. so I can get my Raider games…lol!

Today I will give God an extra special thanks for Canada and acknowledge how blessed my family and I are to live here. 

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Online Guest Book for Michael Jackson

Share your memories, thoughts and condolences along with fans from all over the world. Click on image below.   

sat’day riddymz #13

I Remember Michael Jackson

A coworker came by my desk to give me the news.

Hey Peacemaker, have you heard?
Heard what?
Farrah Fawcett died today.
Oh yeah, I heard about it a little while ago when I was listening to NPR.
So did you hear the other part?
The other part?  What’s that?
Michael Jackson had a heart attack and stopped breathing.
Over Farrah Fawcett???

And then I noticed other people in the office were having their own version of the same conversation in the cubes nearby and throughout the office. Michael Jackson was dead. Farrah picked a hell of a day to kick the bucket. The last thing a self important person like Ms. Fawcett needed was to be upstaged by the death of Michael Jackson. I went back to work.

It might be sad to say but I really could not care any less. Michael Jackson was the very worst example of a black person who really hated being black. While most self hating black people would be content to simply say that they have transcended race, Michael Jackson was the one black person that actually decided to do something about it. Michael Jackson stared at the man in the mirror and decided he didn’t like what he saw enough to buy a new white skin tone, a keen nose that stayed on his face most of the time, thin lips, and a drippy jerry curl to exorcise the kinkiness of his natural hair and eventually just had it permed straight and long. This was not a person happy about being black or who wanted to embrace his blackness. Mr. Jackson ran from being black in front of the entire world to see. Being black was much too painful for him to live with.

What is sad for me is that I loved Michael Jackson just as much as anyone else. Who didn’t? Who didn’t love to hear Michael Jackson sing? And I’m sure there were people who didn’t, but to hell with them. Everybody knew this was a seriously talented young black boy. The dude was crooning like a troubadour at five years old. Who shows that kind of natural talent just months after kicking their diapers to the curb? What was there not to like and admire? No doubt the boy was singing about things he truly didn’t understand. But his voice was so strong, so controlled, with such a good range, and so full of emotion that he could give you the impression that he knew exactly what he was singing about when he was singing songs like Got To Be There and Mama’s Pearl and I’ll Be There.

When Michael broke the stranglehold grip of Berry Gordy and Motown, he truly hit the stratosphere of stardom. Off the Wall, produced under the talented tutelage of Quincy Jones and released under the Epic label, was a phenomenal success for a debut album. And although the cracks were beginning to form in his blackness, his Motown roots were shining through.  The songs were soulful modern interpretations of the songs Michael Jackson grew up singing with his brothers. And we all would be talking about Off the Wall to this day if it wasn’t for the even more spectacular success of his follow up album Thriller. Thriller broke just about every record when it was released. But by now Michael’s true colors began to show and black was not one of them.

On a daily basis Michael Jackson got weirder and weirder. And his music started to suffer as well. You use to be able to sing to a Michael Jackson tune. You could snap your fingers and bob your head as you sang Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough or Rock With You. But I couldn’t sing some of his latest stuff if you held a gun to my head. Michael stopped making the kind of music you wanted to hear and focused on the kind of music that had to be performed with a killer iconic dance move. For sure Michael Jackson’s name is associated with some of the most famous dance moves of all time. Everybody remembers the moonwalk and the robot associated with the song Dancing Machine. Everybody liked to see him spin in place like an ice skater doing a pirouette. But the new music began to take a backseat to the new dance moves on the stage and the songs became impossible to simply listen to or sing with over the radio.

The music that made Michael Jackson famous evaporated along with his blackness. The new hybrid Michael Jackson that looked more like a scarecrow from a Japanese anime and his accompanying music could never compete with the older version. And instead of being content to let his greatness lie in the past the King of Pop kept trying to recreate a new phenomenon based on superficial glitz and glamour instead of what really drove his initial success, the raw talent and the music.

Yes it is sad to hear that Michael Jackson died. But the fact of the matter is that to me, the Michael Jackson I came to know and love died a long time ago. The caricature that took the talented Michael Jackson’s place has finally died as well. Maybe in his death he’ll get the peace he appeared to never have had in life. I will miss the Michael Jackson I fell in love with. I will miss the Michael Jackson that I thought I could identify with as an obvious member of the black community. However, I will confess that I will not miss the man that became better known as the King of Pop.

Rest in peace Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson: the day the music died

I remember as a child, I first became aware of Michael Jackson with his song “Ben”. I was around 10 years old at the time and I remember thinking this is the sweetest song I’d ever heard about friendship. 

I remember when Off the Wall came out. I was 18 years old, full of “piss and vinegar” and was just getting started into my clubbing days. I had a lot of good times during that period and Michael’s music was the soundtrack to that part of my life. 

I remember when I first heard “Billie Jean” from the albumn Thriller. It was “off the wall”!!! At the time I thought it was the best dance song I’d ever heard. I sweated at the clubs (and at home) to hit after hit from that albumn: “Beat it”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin”, “P.Y.T.” Then came the video to the song “Thriller”! I remember the first time I saw it and I just sat there on the couch, stunned for a while… and then thinking: “This is the most amazing thing I’d ever seen in my life!” 

I remember Michael’s signature dance moves. When he first performed his “moonwalk” on the Motown special, I was floored! I will never forget the dance sequence at the end of the original video for the song “Black or White”. His complex dance moves, including the tap sequence, which seemed to be driven by a foreboding sexually charged energy and then all released through violent, destructive and explosive behaviour… though controversial… was something I had never seen before and has never been nor will never be duplicated.  

Just like with Bob Marley, the passing of Michael Jackson is a significant event in my life. The man and his music represented a time and place in pop culture that influenced and shaped the lives of not only those of my generation, but also those before, after and to come.     

Rest in peace King of Pop.  

“And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.”
From “American Pie” by Don McLean

1958 – 2009

Rest in peace.

Michael Jackson.

50 years.

Bits and Bytes

1. TheLoop21.com and the Magic Johnson Foundation have teamed up for an online AIDS awareness campaign this summer called Stop Black AIDS. Visit the site to get involved and participate in online discussions, read enlightening and thought-provoking articles (I found “the racial politics of AIDS” very informative), get their logo for your blog and sign the petition to lobby Congress to do more to address this crisis within the African-American community.  
2. This story of UN troops killing mourners at a funeral in Haiti, got little or no mainstream news or media coverage that I saw and I’m a news junkie.  
3. BBC news report that according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 1 billion people worldwide suffer from hunger, while developed countries are now richer than ever. Read more on the FAO website. 
4. A couple of articles from STRATFOR on the Iranian election crisis: Western Misconceptions Meet Iranian Reality and The Iranian Election and the Revolution Test.
5. I needed to add this and you need to read this! From The World of Ensayn Reality: How to overcome H1N1 or Swine Flu: man made weapon or not!    
6. A thought-provoking post over at Muslim Bushido: An Open Letter To African-American Women Who PUBLICLY State That They Would Never Date/Marry Outside The Race